Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water

Our h20 was shut off simply because we forgot to pay the bill. We had a family emergency and it just slipped my mind. When they came to shut it off, I yelled out of the window. "Please let me fill up a gallon to cook" and they did They did not have to do this and I so appreciated it. They are a kind crew are are simply doing their job. Remember to never take your anger out on them for they have nothing to do with your situation.

This letter is in response to Complaint # [redacted] I have reviewed the account and found that the payment that Ms [redacted] speaks about making on 9/3/was for $and it was in fact payment on the bill dated 6/9/for $I believe that Ms R [redacted] gave her accurate information when she spoke with her on the phone and that the account was indeed several months delinquent and that is why it was shut offIn Other words there was a July and August bill that went out before Ms [redacted] made the payment on the June bill in September.Since this complaint was filed two more payments one on 10/2/for $and one on 10/5/for $have come in to our officeWater was restored on 10/5/and the amount due is currently $and there are pending late and shut off charges of $that will be applied to the next bill.My records show that Ms [redacted] filed a previous Revdex.com complaint in April of 2013and perhaps our delinquency process is not clear to herIn a nut shell, our bills are due days after the issue dateYou have a day grace period (day 31) and a yellow reminder notice goes outIf the bill is still not paid a pink notice goes days later (day 61)The pink notice tells you that will be shut off in days if not paid (day 68).I hope this helps answer any questions that you may haveThank you.Lisa L***

THIS IS THE WORST WATER COMPANY EVER! EVERYONE's WATER BILLS ARE ALL THE SAME $100.00MOST OF THE CUSTOMERS ARE GOOD PAYING CUSTOMERS AND PAY THEIR BILLS ON TIME BECAUSE WE KNOW WE ALL NEED WATER…WPJWA COSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS ARE THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL INDIVIDUALS I Have EVER SEEN… THEY SO UNPROFESSIONAL, THEY UPSET THEMSELVES. THE SUPERVISOR DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO SUPERVISE AND THE HISTORY OF THE COMPANY REALLY SUCKS! I RECIEVED 2 SHUT-OFF NOTICES IN A DAY. I CONTACT THE AGENCY AND THEY DID NOT KNOW WHY I RECEIVED THE BILLS, DID NOT KNOW THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF THE BILLS AND THE AMOUNT OF THE SHUT-OFF NOTICE WAS NOT THE CORRECT AMOUNT ON FILE. I ASKED TO SPEAK TO A SUPERVISOR AND THE AGENT STARTED YELLING AND SCREAMING AT ME AND PUT ME ON HOLD FOR THE LONGEST!…THE 2 SHUT-OFF NOTICES WAS FOR $100.00 FOR SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2019 AND THE TOTAL BALANCE FOR THEY BILL $300.00 FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER!.. HOWEVER, THIS ALL OCCURED AFTER RECEIVING A BILL FOR $500.00 IN JUNE 2019.

ID# ***Dear Ms***:I have received your complaint #*** from *** ** ***In response, I would like to offer you a brief history of our delinquency policyWe bill on a monthly basis and a bill is due twenty-one days after it is issuedIf it is not paid a delinquent
reminder notice is sent approximately thirty days from the issue dateI say approximately because the notices are not generated on weekends and holidays.If the bill is still not paid another delinquent notice is sent approximate sixty days after the bill issue dateA shut off notice is then generated seven days later if the bill remains unpaidIt is important to note that all of our bills and notices are hand delivered to the post office and in the event that mail is returned and not delivered by the post office, the account is noted.I believe Ms *** is talking about her February bill dated 2/11/This bill has not been paidA late notice went out on 3/15/and another one on 4/13/A shut off order was printed on 4/20/Also the March water bill was dated 3/11/and the April bill was dated 4/13/It is very possible that she received her April bill and the late notice from the February bill the same day because they were both generated on 4/13/It does sound like a lot of mail but if the bills are paid by the due date, additional notification does not go out and a customer will only get one piece of mail from us a month.I hope that I have explained this well and that I have answered any questions you may have.Sincerely,Lisa L*** WPJWA

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
If I'm not getting the bills until they are late then I can't very well know whenEveryone at this company is rude and does not care about their customersThey could care less if they shut of water at house with a single mother with a year oldAs long as I keep paying to get it turned back on and keep collectingThey know exactly what they are doing.Also when I called one of the charities to get help the lady I had talked said she always hears about problems with them and that WPJW do what ever they want even if it means leaving houses with children without water. **
Regards,
*** ***

IN RE:*** * *** *** *** *** *** ***Dear Ms***:This letter is in second response to Complaint #*** I have reviewed the account and found that two payments were made in October on the account of *** ***On 10/2/a payment was made for $and on 10/05/a payment of $was madeThese two payments did not pay the total amount due and left a remaining balance owed of $The account was then billed on 10/8/for $($current charges plus $past.due).The shut off date for the $balance is scheduled for 11/10/To avoid shut off that balance will need to be paid but November 10, 2015,I hope this helps answer any questions that you may haveThank you.Lisa L*** ***

Just received my first bill. It was 4 times higher than my house in Mt. Lebanon, and there were twice as many people living in the Mt. Lebanon home!

This letter is in response to Complaint #[redacted] I have reviewed the account and found that the payment that Ms [redacted] speaks about making on 9/3/15 was for $82.00 and it was in fact payment on the bill dated 6/9/15 for $82.00. I believe that Ms R[redacted] gave her accurate information when...

she spoke with her on the phone and that the account was indeed several months delinquent and that is why it was shut off. In Other words there was a July and August bill that went out before Ms [redacted] made the payment on the June bill in September.Since this complaint was filed two more payments one on 10/2/15 for $147.00 and one on 10/5/15 for $62.47 have come in to our office. Water was restored on 10/5/15 and the amount due is currently $19.71 and there are pending late and shut off charges of $52.00 that will be applied to the next bill.My records show that Ms [redacted] filed a previous Revdex.com complaint in April of 2013and perhaps our delinquency process is not clear to her. In a nut shell, our bills are due 21 days after the issue date. You have a 10 day grace period (day 31) and a yellow reminder notice goes out. If the bill is still not paid a pink notice goes 30 days later (day 61). The pink notice tells you that will be shut off in 7 days if not paid (day 68).I hope this helps answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.Lisa L[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Again, I have reviewed the information given by Ms Lisa, atleast I can get the written name correct. I am Ms [redacted] and [redacted] is a stolen identity name which is owned by whomever.  I am certain that Ms Lisa is not being honest. Would she infact supply water service to my home, and I have not as she states, paid my July bill?  I had a three month bill which is quarterly bill from Wilkinsburg Penn Joint Water Authority. However, in the last year my bill was switched to a monthly payment bill and I have made on time and regular payments each month.  I am not certain what problems Wilkinsburg Penn Joint Water Authority has with me since I have know personal acquaintance with this entity. If this situation does not resolve soon, I would like to request a refund of all over changes and unnecessary payments.Ms [redacted]Acct# [redacted]

quite recently my mother passed away. the house as well as all the utilities were in my dads name (there were separated for years). someone called the water company attempting to shut the water off? I'm not sure what the intent was but because someone called playing on the phone they shut off the water. one would think a prank call wouldn't warrant such drastic reactions. but it did. there wasn't a high water bill in fact the water bill was $15 for two months because we only used the water to try and restore the house. mind you my father brought this house in 1978 and had been the name on this account since then. this still didn't matter to these people. they have no sense of compassion (a family losing their mother) or any sense of loyalty. they shut off the water at this house over someone calling in asking them to. never reached out to my dad - but when went to get the water turn on, they gave him a hard time. questioning why someone would call in (as if we'd know) asked for proof . my dad showed his license and yet they continued to question him as if he did something wrong. my mother had been living in the house so my fathers wasn't aware of anything relative to the house. and actually is in the process of attempting to settle their estate. bottom line is these folks don't have to answer to no one. they don't fall under the public utlitilies commission so they operate how ever they please . that includes talking to folks as if they're is or beneath them. they have on social skills when dealing with the public or compassion. I only wish we have an alternative water supplier, competition with another consumer usually forces companies like this to be more "consumer friendly" as it stands they can careless about any of us.

Review: Located in the lowest income housing area of Pittsburgh, this utility company changed its billing cycle abruptly without notice and did not adjust it's late fees accordingly with the change. When the cycles was every 3 months, a 'late fee' notice, when generated, incurred a charge of $6.00. Now that billing is monthly, the 'late fee' notices have not been adjusted to be $2.00 a month. WPJWA is still charging $6.00 for EACH late fee EACH month. If you were late on 3 months before (as many people are in this poverty stricken area) it was a $6.00 penalty - whereas now it would be $18.00 if you were late 3 months in a row. I understand it is the goal of the company to get people to pay their bills on time, but when I kindly asked for a one time courtesy waiver of the $24.00 I had incurred, I was denied. I then wrote a letter to [redacted], the director. I was met with no response except for another late fee. I had endorsed my check on the back to reflect that the stipulation of cashing was the waiver of the late fees. (I paid the $138.00 balance less the fees). I was then charged ANOTHER late fee for the late fees I thought they would waive this one time. I am fed up with not being treated like a hard working person who is making an attempt to bring their bill current. This utility company does not care about the community it serves or the people that they supply water to. There is no other option, this area is forced into paying these ridiculous late fees or having it mercilessly shut off. I feel a more compassionate, business like solution would be to offer a courtesy refund or at least drop the late fees to a manageable $2.00 a month. There is no way it costs WPJWA $6.00 to print one piece of paper. Thank you for your time. I hope I can make a difference.Desired Settlement: I would still like a refund of the original $24.00 late fees I requested, plus the additional $6.00 I was charged for the late fees being late - for a total of $30.00.It would also be nice to have an apology letter from [redacted], the director since he completely ignored my petition for help.

Business

Response:

Review: I have been a customer for the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority for 5 years. In those five years, I have NEVER been shut off from my water service during that time. I PAY on time and I have never raised any issues...UNTIL TODAY!!I have 3 very young daughters and my wife who is 6 months pregnant at home. To my surprise, I received a phone call from my wife calling me at work, telling me that the Water Company came out to our residence. With no regard to the children there in the home or prior history of my dependability on paying my water bill, Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority shut off our water!To make matters worse, during this process, the representative sarcastically stated to my wife that "he did not care about our situation and that he did not care to discuss any billing issues or balance matters.I find the situation disheartening, because I can count over a dozen times standing in line behind customers who have owed in the hundreds, even thousands of dollars on their water bill and yet...my bill, which is under $200 and was only in default for 7 days, was enough for Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority to send out a heartless representative to execute water service, all to gain a shut-on fee...I extend this question to any employee at Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority who has children of their own in their house...do you feel it is justified to terminate a family's water supply after missing (1) billing cycle simply because of human error? If any employee can sleep at night without that bothering their conscience knowing that they have children of their own, perhaps there is nothing more to say.Desired Settlement: Replacement of service, although I plan to do so before Friday anyways. More importantly, Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority needs a replacement of curriculum and customer service practices. I am sure that ANY successful business should at least reach out to clients before acting hastily. It doesn't make good business sense to hire ignorant, disrespectful and non-concerned employees who are paid to pull the plug on families who may OR may not deserve water stoppage because of human error.

Business

Response:

Wilkinsburg - Penn Joint Water Authority

This letter is in response to Complaint #[redacted]. I think I need to sum up our delinquency process to respond to this complaint by Mr. [redacted]. Our bills are due 21 days from the issue date of the bill. Customers are then given a ten day grace period after the due date and on the 31 st day a yellow notice goes out to notify the customers that the bill has not been paid. After another 30 days and the bill is still not paid, now 61 days after the issue date, a pink notice goes out telling the customer that they will be shut off in seven days. A shut off work order is produced if the customer still does not pay in seven days. Our service man on the street is given the turn off work order but he is not allowed to collect money at the property, nor does he know any specific information about the account. They always inform the customers that they can not speak to the delinquency and that the customer should call the office. Their job is only to turn the water off or on. They are not allowed to cancel a work order unless they get a radio call from the office.

To address Mr. [redacted]’s complaint, I don’t think that our servicemen are heartless or that they simply don’t care about the customer’s billing issues but rather that they can not discuss issues on the street. Please remember that they don’t have computers, payment history or any kind of account information at their disposal and that their jobs are to complete their work orders. They are also not at liberty to take payments on the street. I hope this answers your questions.

Review: The other day I went to get the mail and there was 3 pieces from the Water company. 1 was my monthly bill which I have called them numerous of times that I was not getting it every month. The Other was a yellow saying I was late when I didn't even get a monthly bill until the same set and in another was a shut off notice. I don't get the bill then I am told it is late and getting shut off. How is this allowed to happen. I have called and called yet they are rude and don't help at all all they say is it isn't their fault I have to deal with getting charged for their mistake.Desired Settlement: I want it all taken care of this is ridiculous.

Business

Response:

ID# [redacted]Dear Ms. [redacted]:I have received your complaint #[redacted] from [redacted]. In response, I would like to offer you a brief history of our delinquency policy. We bill on a monthly basis and a bill is due twenty-one days after it is issued. If it is not paid a delinquent reminder notice is sent approximately thirty days from the issue date. I say approximately because the notices are not generated on weekends and holidays.If the bill is still not paid another delinquent notice is sent approximate sixty days after the bill issue date. A shut off notice is then generated seven days later if the bill remains unpaid. It is important to note that all of our bills and notices are hand delivered to the post office and in the event that mail is returned and not delivered by the post office, the account is noted.I believe Ms [redacted] is talking about her February bill dated 2/11/16. This bill has not been paid. A late notice went out on 3/15/16 and another one on 4/13/16. A shut off order was printed on 4/20/16. Also the March water bill was dated 3/11/16 and the April bill was dated 4/13/16. It is very possible that she received her April bill and the late notice from the February bill the same day because they were both generated on 4/13/16. It does sound like a lot of mail but if the bills are paid by the due date, additional notification does not go out and a customer will only get one piece of mail from us a month.I hope that I have explained this well and that I have answered any questions you may have.Sincerely,Lisa L[redacted] WPJWA

Review: This company has mistakenly charged me for 15 kilogallons of water usage during a quarterly billing interval. This charge is for a high level of quarterly water usage on a home which was empty (nobody living in the home) during that billing period. There is a billing period immediately before this, same circumstances, same home, same period of time when nobody was living there that had only .3 kilogallons of water usage. They refuse to acknowledge or investigate that they were mistaken, likely due to an error in how the water meter was read, recorded or tabulated. This bill on based on a water meter read assessed on 3/10/2014. The actual bill was sent to me over two months later. This provided very little time to investigate (bill was sent 5/20/2014, payment is "due" 5/30/2014). Due to the nature of how their customer service is structured in spite of my multiple inquires and requests to hear from a supervisor, I am yet to talk to this individual or receive a call back. Overall my impression is that I am being fraudulently charged for water/sewage usage on a home that was empty without recourse.Desired Settlement: I would like this company to take the appropriate and necessary steps to rectify their error. I also believe that billing for basic service such as water/sewage should not be delivered at 2 month delay from the actual assessment with less than 10 days to investigate or address any irregularities.

Business

Response:

Review: I have had continual problems with Wilkinsburg Penn Joint Water Authority with termination of mywater service. I live at [redacted] in Penn Hills Pa 15235 and WPJWA water authority as terminated water service on 09/23/2015 for non payment. I paid my monthly water bill on 09/03/2015 in the amount of $82.00. I am never behind in my payments and I am never late with monthly payments; however, Wilkinsburg Penn Joint Water Authority representative and credit manager Ms Juanita R[redacted] states that I am always late and I am now paying June monthly waterbill. Again, I state that I am never late and my payments or made on a monthly bases on time. I collect Social Security Disability Workers every month, so there would be no reason for late payments, my service is in the name of [redacted] which is my mother, reason is we have not had time to change service names. I would like to have an order for immediate restoration of my water services which is against the law to terminate in case of fire and hazardous situations.Desired Settlement: The immediate restoration of my water service to [redacted] or [redacted] Penn Hills Pa 15235, and the adjustment of my bill.

Business

Response:

This letter is in response to Complaint #[redacted] I have reviewed the account and found that the payment that Ms [redacted] speaks about making on 9/3/15 was for $82.00 and it was in fact payment on the bill dated 6/9/15 for $82.00. I believe that Ms R[redacted] gave her accurate information when she spoke with her on the phone and that the account was indeed several months delinquent and that is why it was shut off. In Other words there was a July and August bill that went out before Ms [redacted] made the payment on the June bill in September.Since this complaint was filed two more payments one on 10/2/15 for $147.00 and one on 10/5/15 for $62.47 have come in to our office. Water was restored on 10/5/15 and the amount due is currently $19.71 and there are pending late and shut off charges of $52.00 that will be applied to the next bill.My records show that Ms [redacted] filed a previous Revdex.com complaint in April of 2013and perhaps our delinquency process is not clear to her. In a nut shell, our bills are due 21 days after the issue date. You have a 10 day grace period (day 31) and a yellow reminder notice goes out. If the bill is still not paid a pink notice goes 30 days later (day 61). The pink notice tells you that will be shut off in 7 days if not paid (day 68).I hope this helps answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.Lisa L[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Again, I have reviewed the information given by Ms Lisa, atleast I can get the written name correct. I am Ms [redacted] and [redacted] is a stolen identity name which is owned by whomever. I am certain that Ms Lisa is not being honest. Would she infact supply water service to my home, and I have not as she states, paid my July bill? I had a three month bill which is quarterly bill from Wilkinsburg Penn Joint Water Authority. However, in the last year my bill was switched to a monthly payment bill and I have made on time and regular payments each month. I am not certain what problems Wilkinsburg Penn Joint Water Authority has with me since I have know personal acquaintance with this entity. If this situation does not resolve soon, I would like to request a refund of all over changes and unnecessary payments.Ms [redacted]Acct# [redacted]

Business

Response:

IN RE:[redacted]Dear Ms. [redacted]:

Review: I found myself behind on my water bill as I am preparing for the birth of my third child so I have received a yellow copy of my bill which indicates a shut off date of 6/16/2014 however I receive a phone call form my wife today 5/27/2014 telling me that our water service has been shut off so I had to leave work early to go and pay this bill today, money which I had to borrow, at the window I was told they gave me two shut off dates for two separate bills how can this company do this this is very misleading I thought I had enough time to pay the bill Friday 5/30/2014 and this was not the case it almost seems to me like the company is trying to make this as confusing as possible to charge people the $40.00 fee to reconnect the water, unfair and very deceptive how can a company continue to operate like thisDesired Settlement: I would like this company to know misleading practices like this will not be tolerated and I do not wish to pay the $40.00 to have a service restored that was not scheduled to be shut off until 6/16/2014

Business

Response: